Baking & Snack - June 2020 - 100

SNACK PACKAGING

Left: For variety packs,
snack producers create
small single-serve bags
and a larger secondary
bag in one machine.
Matrix

Right: Baggers that are
easy to access and
clean reduce downtime
during changeovers.
TNA Solutions

adaptations are completed, the operator runs through
one complete safety cycle to ensure that the machine has
been set up properly for the next format run."
Matrix designed its machines to limit changeover time
and film waste by shrinking their footprint. It engineered
shorter distances between the film roll and the former,
so less film is wasted when changed out and the rolls are
easily removed and installed based on preprogrammed
recipes. Changeover times for bag film sizes on Matrix's
machines are less than five minutes, Ms. Duncan said.
"It used to be you would have to pull off all that material and adjust in new film," Ms. Duncan said. "You'd
waste a ton of new film adjusting to new recipes. Now,
with the ability to save them all in the HMI, you're saving a lot of film and time."
Changing bag sizes not only affects the upstream processes, but they also impact secondary packaging. Planning
how to pack these varieties of bag sizes is critical to maintaining desired throughput and avoiding bottlenecks.

Last but not least
Case packing single-serve bags vs. family-size requires
flexibility and consistency. Smaller bags exit the bagger
at a higher rate and therefore require faster case packers
to keep up.
By using delta robots, high-speed servo drives, gentle
gripping technology and optimized machine movements, BPA's Spider 200i case packer can reach speeds of
up to 140 bags per minute for smaller packages and up
to 60 bags per minute for 16-ounce bags.

100 Baking & Snack June 2020 / www.bakingbusiness.com

"BPA understands the industry's need for maximum
flexibility and has designed our case packers to provide
a wide range of dimensional and payload capacities,"
Mr. Wiskochil said. "This allows our customers to switch
from small to large products quickly and efficiently, all
in one compact machine."
The ability to switch speeds on the go benefits snack
manufacturers making constant changes throughout a
run. Somic's case packing systems can be adjusted based
on infeed speeds, which allows producers to ramp up
when needed.
"The Somic 424 machine can be converted to handle
large formats in the same way we handle the smaller formats," Mr. Fox said. "Typically, this is done by removing
the quick-change lamella chain on our vertical collator.
The large bag formats can be collated standing upright
on the short or long edge or lying flat."
New formats of secondary packaging are gaining
market share for their versatility. Variety packs are often
packed into larger bags to give consumers more variety
and reduce packaging materials.
Matrix's Bag in Bag system creates a smaller snack
bag like a 100-calorie pack, then it places it into a larger
master pouch machine without the need to convey the
small pack to a case packer. It can run 100 per minute,
depending on the snack application.
Snack producers can improve the variety of package sizes they offer by picking a system that's easy to operate and
quick to changeover. This provides opportunity to keep up
with the constant changes in packaging formats.

http://www.bakingbusiness.com

Baking & Snack - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - June 2020